


I used to steal bases, too

by monkshoodr



Category: Pitch (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Thieves, F/M, First Meetings, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:59:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22692169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monkshoodr/pseuds/monkshoodr
Summary: "Ginny Baker’s a safe cracking prodigy; Slater says she can get into any vault.”“Amelia Slater wants to risk her security consulting company’s pristine reputation by partnering up with my less-than-legal retrievals team?” Al asks. “Must be a big favour.”
Relationships: Ginny Baker/Mike Lawson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 39
Collections: Pitch Valentine's Gift Exchange 2020





	I used to steal bases, too

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lovedmoviesb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lovedmoviesb/gifts).



> For @lovedmoviesb. Happy Valentine's Day! 
> 
> One of your suggestions was an AU - I took this in a direction I'm not even sure I knew it was going. I hope you enjoy.

Al Luongo considers himself a lucky man, despite it all. 

His beautiful children have grown into successful, happy adults, and in turn have raised wonderful grandchildren he adores. He spent over forty years married to the love of his life, and even though he misses her every day, he chooses to think back on all the good memories they made together. 

Out of the shambles of a broken childhood, destroyed hopes for a pro baseball career, and a bullet wound in Vietnam, he crafted a career that he finds fulfilling and challenging in equal measure. On most days, he thinks he might never retire; might keep going to work every day until he has to be carted out on a stretcher.

  
  
Today is not most days.

* * *

“You want me to what? Are you kidding?” Al could feel the start of a headache coming on.

“He has it, Al. My source confirmed it.” Oscar paces around the room, stepping around Mike Lawson’s outstretched legs. “That statue belongs back in the museum.”

“He’s clean. There’s never been any hint that he’s bought any other stolen goods.” Al says, turning to check with Buck who nods back.

“I don’t know what to tell you Al, but I’m sure he has it.” Oscar straightens to stare down at Al’s seated form. “Your team is the best; I know you can get it back.”

“My team’s the best because we know how to pick our battles. Breaking into Noah Casey’s house is a suicide mission.” Al lifts his hands to tick off fingers as he continues. “His home is an ultra-modern nightmare with more windows than Lawson’s place; he’s got a security company and his own high tech digital surveillance; and given the design of the place, his vault has to be top of the line. I’m thinking weight sensors, laser grid, temperature monitors; the works. Has to be a custom build.”

Oscar raises an eyebrow. “So you’ve already cased the place, then?”

“Of course I have! It’s an occupational hazard.” Al points a finger in Oscar’s face. “Don’t try to guilt me into it. You’ve lost a lot of leverage by sneaking around with my daughter behind my back.”

“Okay, okay.” Oscar rubs at his jaw, trying to ignore the pain feeling suspiciously like an abscessed tooth. “Look Al, you know my security firm’s in trouble because of the theft. The museum’s only keeping us on because I told them I might have a way to get it back. If this contract gets cancelled, all my other clients will go to someone else. I’ll be finished.”

“I appreciate that Oscar, but I can’t ask my guys to risk getting caught just because you and I have history. Breaking into Noah Casey’s house will definitely land someone in jail.”

“How many of them would be willing to risk it for a big reward?” Oscar asks. “The statue was donated by Maxine Armstrong’s grandfather; she’ll give pretty much anything to make sure it’s returned.”

Al sighs and turns to raise his eyebrows at Mike. “At least some of them will say yes.” Mike responds to the silent question. “Hell, Livan’ll do it for the bragging rights. Some of them need the money; Salvamini’s got another kid on the way, and Blip just bought that house. But they’ve both got families that depend on them being around, not spending twenty years behind bars. I don’t like the odds.”

“Agreed.” Al nods. “I can’t ask them to do this, Oscar, if I can’t keep them safe. Robles is a great hacker, but I don’t think he could crack Casey’s security software on his own. Not to mention that we don’t have a vault specialist with the type of finesse this work requires. Sonny’s more of a brute force type of guy.”

“I want you to work with Slater’s team.”

“Are you kidding me, Oscar?”

“Slater’s team?” Mike asks. “I thought they were legit.”

“She owes me a favour.” Oscar explains. “Her tech guy could double with Robles to take down the software. And Ginny Baker’s a safe cracking prodigy; Slater says she can get into any vault.”

“Amelia Slater wants to risk her security consulting company’s pristine reputation by partnering up with my less-than-legal retrievals team?” Al asks. “Must be a big favour.”

“Thanks Al, I knew you’d say yes.” Oscar heads to the door, already typing furiously on his phone. “I’ll have Rhonda send you all the details she has about Casey’s property. Slater and her team will be here tomorrow afternoon, I’ll give her the address. Casey’s company is launching their new game system next week, so the house will be empty while he’s in San Jose. Perfect time for you guys to get the statue back.”

It seems like Oscar takes all sound with him as he goes, as the three remaining men stare at the closed door.

“We’re screwed.” Al says, several beats later.

“Yup,” says Buck.

* * *

He’s heard about her, of course, even seen a picture of her once, but Mike’s still a little surprised at how disarming she looks in real life. Ginny’s dressed casually in spandex pants and zip up top, but still looks like a goddamned supermodel, all bright smiles and wild curls swinging loose past her shoulders. 

Mike watches her greet Blip with an enthusiastic hug, laughing as he lifts her off the ground before tugging her across the warehouse to inspect his gear. He tracks the pair of them with his eyes as Al introduces him to Amelia Slater. His attention is divided during the conversation that follows, still half focused on trying to figure out the dynamic between Ginny and Blip. He can tell it isn’t romantic; would be able to tell even if he didn’t know how in love Blip is with his wife. It’s more like siblings, he thinks, as watches them jostle each other before Blip tucks her under his arm and introduces her around the team.

“Lawson will keep her safe.” Mike comes back to the conversation as Al claps him on the shoulder.

Amelia Slater doesn’t look impressed with this reassurance. She purses her lips as her eyes slowly rake down his body and back up, taking in every detail. Mike can feel himself being measured and found wanting as her frown deepens.

“Look, Mr. Lawson,” she begins.

“Mike, please.”

“Fine, Mike,” Amelia rolls her eyes. “Ginny Baker is an artist. She’s the best at what she does, and a huge asset to my company. She’s not a criminal; she’s never been arrested before, and isn’t going to start now. We’re doing this as a favour to Oscar, but it’s our reputations that are on the line. You’re going to guarantee that she gets out of this free and clear, even if it means sacrificing someone on your team. Okay?”

He doesn’t even have time to respond before she turns and drags Al off in the opposite direction. “Well, this is going to be fun.” Mike looks around for Amelia’s prize asset and finds her staring back at him, a few steps away from where Eliot, Amelia’s IT guy, is shaking hands with Robles.

Mike watches her break away to walk in his direction, and steps forward to meet her.

“Look who it is, Ginny Baker in the flesh. I heard you can crack the latest generation Smith home safe in three minutes.”

“Two and a half. It’s nice to finally meet you, Mike.” She grins at him. “I’ve heard so many stories about you.”

“Blip likes talking about me that much, huh?” He crosses his arms over his chest and smirks at her.

“Evelyn too.” She nods. “Plus it’s pretty obvious when your wife uses you as her anonymous source. Isn’t marrying a crime reporter a conflict of interest?”

“Ex-wife. And definitely. It’s one of the reasons the marriage ended.” Mike shrugs. “That and her sleeping with someone else.”

He waves away her concerned look, wanting to change the subject to bring that smile back to full force. “How is it you know Blip and Evelyn?”

“Blip did a break and enter with my brother several years back. I met Evelyn accidentally while we were both waiting for them to make it out safely.” 

“Your brother still in the business?”

“In a way,” Ginny’s eyes dim a bit. “Less breaking and entering, and more not paying back loan sharks.”

“Dangerous game.” Mike whistles low. “How are you feeling about all this? There’s still time to back out, if you’re not okay with everything. Don’t feel obligated to do something illegal.”

“Think I can’t take it? My father began teaching me to crack safes while I was still in diapers. Besides, stealing back something someone else stole isn’t quite the same thing.”

“Could still land you in jail. And you’re still a rookie if you’ve never actually done it for real.”

“A rookie?” She glares playfully, eyes dancing. “You talk big game, old man. Let me show you what I got.”

* * *

She kind of blows him away. 

He thinks he could watch her crack safes forever. It really is a thing of beauty to see her laser focus as she takes in every aspect of the problem, head tilted and eyes flitting back and forth. You can almost see her thinking through every element of the puzzle in her mind, before she suddenly moves, sure and confident, to put her plan into action.

She’s broken into every safe and vault they have on hand, and has moved on to creating her own laser grid. Her movements are both graceful and strong. Mike’s muscles ache just watching her pivot slowly on one foot, her other leg suspended almost as high as her shoulder before touching down in a neat step over the moving red light beam. He glares at Robles when he catches him staring, trying to redirect his own focus away from Ginny’s perfect, pear-shaped ass.

But it’s the other things that keep surprising him. The way she seems to fit in with this ragtag team Al’s spent years creating. How a thirty minute rant on the evils of cilantro seemed too short, just because he was enjoying watching her get worked up as she picked individual slivers of cilantro out of her rice. How much he enjoys talking to her, about everything, big and small; about things he hasn’t told anyone about in years.

He tries not to think about how much he’s going to miss teasing her when she’s gone. How much he’ll miss that horsey laugh. He doesn’t want to think about how, once this job is done, they won’t have any reason to keep spending time together. That it might be better, in fact, if they don’t have any contact to keep suspicions off her while the theft is investigated. 

He can’t stop thinking about how, if tonight goes south, she could end up in jail. All of them could end up in jail. He can’t stop thinking about how Livan’s the one who gets to go into Casey’s with her.

* * *

”I wish you could be the one coming in with us.” Ginny whispers to him in the van on the way over to Casey’s house. “I don’t really know Livan.”

“You’ve known me the exact same length of time, Baker.” Mike hands her an earpiece, watching her secure it in place. “I wish I was going in too, but my knee’s not in good enough shape to make a quick getaway, and me slowing you down will just get us all caught.”

Ginny bites her lip and looks away. Mike reaches for the fingers drumming on her thigh.

“Livan’s almost as good at housebreaking as me.” Mike squeezes her hand. “He’ll get you safely inside to the vault. And I’ll be with you the whole time,” he gestures to his own ear. “Livan’s earpiece will have an open channel, he’ll monitor how everyone else is doing. You just get me; limited distractions so you can focus on the vault.”

“I’ve never done this bit before.” She confesses.

“What bit?”

“The breaking in part of things.” Ginny turns her hand in his grip, almost playing with his fingers. “We’re a consulting firm for home security - we’re always invited in.”

“You’ll be fine.” He untangles their grip as they pull to a stop near the house. “Trust the team.”

“Okay,” Al calls from the front, as the second van pulls up behind them. “Game time.”

Omar and Eliot are already typing by the time Al has moved from the driver’s seat to the back of the vehicle. The team does final checks of their equipment as the two hackers try to crack the code.

  
  
“We’re in!” Eliot cheers, before getting shushed by everyone else. “Sorry.”

“I don’t know about this encryption,” Robles says. “I’m not sure how much time we’ll have.”

“How much time are we talking?” Al asks.

“Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes?” Eliot offers. “Thirty if we’re lucky, but we’re going to have to keep at it the whole time.”

Omar nods. “We won’t have any notice before we’re booted out of the system and all the home security features come back on.”

Al sighs. “Last chance to say no. If we’re doing this, I want you guys in and out in twelve minutes.”

There’s a quick look around the truck. “Okay,” Blip says. “Let's go.”

* * *

Mike hates not being able to go in with them. Hates that he doesn’t have eyes on them, and that he can only guess where they’re at by the sounds picked up by Ginny’s comms, and his knowledge of the plan. He hates that if things go wrong, he might not be able to help them.

He tries to match his breathing to Ginny’s to avoid missing anything. 

“We’re in,” she whispers, barely above the volume of a breath.

That means Blip’s managed to pick the lock - in less than the expected time - and will stand guard by the door while Ginny, Livan and Salvamini keep going into the house.

“This way, Mami.” Mike grits his teeth, straining to hear anything beyond echoing footsteps on tile floor.

“Oh wow,” Mike’s spine straightens with her sharp inhale. “Custom job.” 

He taps on his mic. “Can you crack it? You have eight minutes left.”

“I think so. The door anyway.”

“It’s your call, Baker.”

He hears her huff, then distant clicks, straining to listen as he watches Al’s timer count down.

“Salvi, I need you to blowtorch exactly where I tell you. Here and here.”

The whoosh of flame comes through the comms, so close Mike can almost feel the heat. Another set of clicks, and then -

“Shit.”

“Ginny?”

“I’m okay. But this might need….how much time do we have?”

“Six minutes. Nine if you run right up to the fifteen minute mark.” Mike ignores Al’s glare.

“Six...minutes…” her breaths are starting to come in gasps.

“Breathe, Ginny.” 

“My hands are shaking. I can’t do this if they keep shaking.” 

“Gin,” Mike can see Al speaking rapidly into his mic, and turns away to focus solely on her. “Ginny. Breathe with me. In...out...that’s it. You can still back out at any time, just bolt for the door and the guys will follow. But you’ve got to stop thinking about all the what ifs, and focus on what you do best. You’re in a team on this, trust them to do the rest.”

“Okay...okay.” He listens to her release a slow, measured exhale. “Thanks.”

Mike can hear that she’s started to move. He closes his eyes, picturing her ducking and weaving through the web of sensors. Wondering if he’d be able to tell from here if she’d set them off. 

“Livan,” her voice sounds tight, like her lungs are being squeezed. “I need you to throw me that weight to put in the statue’s place.”

Oh god. Can she even catch a ten pound weight while contorted around laser beams?

“Mami…”

“I’ve got this. But you need to time the throw when I say, okay? Ready?.....Now.”

“Livan,” Mike almost jumps at Al’s voice. “We’re at twelve minutes, you’ve gotta get out of there.”

Mike looks at Eliot and Omar, both looking a little wild eyed as their fingers fly across the keys, and thinks about praying.

“Got it.” 

“Great, now get the hell out of there, Baker, without setting anything off.” He tries not to think about how she’d navigate a laser grid with a statue held in her arms. She’s made it this far, she can make the rest.

“Clear.” 

“Not clear until you get back to the van.” Mike ordered. “You’ve hit fifteen minutes, we’ve got no guarantees that you’re safe until you’re here.”

He can hear Blip’s “finally!” and knows they’ve at least made it out the door; can hear their pounding footsteps as they race to the property line.

“We’ve lost it.” Eliot sinks back in his seat. “Security’s online.”

Omar looks stricken. “Do you think they made it?”

The van door opens and they all jump. 

“We did it!” Ginny bounces into the van, reaching out for fist bumps and high fives, like they were a goddamned baseball team.

“Yeah, yeah, good job Ginny.” Al grumbles. “Better to celebrate far away from the scene of a crime. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

* * *

Mike’s so focused on the post-job supply check that he doesn’t notice her at first. Amelia and Eliot had their stuff packed seemingly within minutes of their return to the warehouse. Ginny’s elaborate maze of lasers and other training equipment took a bit longer, but now the warehouse looks back to normal, almost as if she had never been there in the first place.

“I wanted to say thanks, for what you did back there,” she gives him a soft smile. “For helping calm me down when I needed it. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“You’d have been fine.” He shoves a box of supplies in the closest cupboard, and turns fully to face her. “How’d you enjoy your first foray into crime?”

“It was kind of fun,” she laughs. “I think my heart is still racing.”

“Careful, Baker,” he warns. “That’s a slippery slope you’re on.”

They stand in silence for a moment, drinking each other in before they say their goodbyes. But maybe, it doesn’t have to be a goodbye.

“You free to go for a drink?” Mike asks.

“Like, with the team?” She cocks her head and studies him, he feels she can see into his bones.

“If you like...or…”

“Or,” she states, like it’s an answer. Maybe it is.

“Okay then. There’s a quiet place nearby. Boardner’s.”

“Let’s go.”


End file.
